Heroics
by The Emmanator
Summary: For years she had dreamed of a hero coming to save her. Of course the biggest flaw with a hero is that they never know when to stop saving others and save themselves. Dorcas Meadowes x Gideon Prewett


A/N: I love the Prewett brothers. End of story.

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Heroics

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Going to sleep as a girl, Dorcas Meadowes dreamed of a knight in shining armor, rescuing her from a mundane existence, rescuing her from the ordinary. 

On her eleventh birthday, a man with a long white beard and an outfit that looked better suited to a cartoon came to her door, telling her parents that she was a witch.

A month later she was walking through Kings Cross station, dragging a trunk, with a caged barn owl balanced on top. Her parents smiled as she approached the barrier between nine and ten, but where on Earth was platform nine and three quarters?

Looking around, feeling panicked, she saw an older girl, about seventeen, leading two younger boys, her age, towards the platform.

"Excuse me!" she chirped. She wasn't exactly shy.

"Hmm?" the young woman said.

"Do you know how to get onto the platform?" Dorcas asked.

"Oh! First time at Hogwarts?"

Dorcas nodded.

"Just walk straight at the barrier between nine and ten, best to do it at a bit of a run if your nervous. But go on then, before Gideon and Fabian," she said, smiling kindly at the young girl.

"Thank you," Dorcas said graciously, pulling her trolley back a bit and jogging towards the barrier. But as she came closer to the barrier, she kept running. She opened her eyes (she had closed them tightly fearing impact) and saw crowds of students, some with trunks like hers and owls, and a huge scarlet steam engine.

Grinning, she pushed her trunk towards the train, boarding and finding the first empty compartment she could. She set her owl down on a seat and looked for a way to load her trunk into the overhead compartment. But she was too small and the trunk was too big.

"Can we sit here?" a voice said. It was one of the two boys she had seen before getting on the platform. They were perfectly identical, with reddish-brownish hair and dark eyes. The one that had spoken stood a little forward, a little bolder.

"Sure," she said, her hands in her lap.

"Do you need help with your trunk?" the second one asked, gesturing to the wayward trunk.

Dorcas nodded, and the twins grabbed it up, storing it, followed by their own.

"I'm Fabian Prewett," the first twin said, extending a hand to Dorcas. She shook his hand and turned to his brother.

"I'm Gideon," the second one added, shaking her hand.

"Where did your sister go?" Dorcas asked, trying to strike up some conversation.

"She's off snogging her boyfriend," Gideon said, rolling his eyes.

"And she didn't want us sitting with them, so we had to find somewhere else to sit," Fabian added.

"Well I'm glad you sat with me," Dorcas said. "I didn't want to be alone the entire time."

* * *

Five years had passed since the first train ride. Dorcas, Gideon and Fabian had become Gryffindors together and had stayed close as anyone could. She cheered for them at Quidditch, laughed at their jokes and got them out of several detentions.

But currently, as a sixth year Gryffindor, Dorcas was curled up on one of the overstuffed red armchairs, holding tightly to a plush lion her mother had sent her when she had explained her house to her. Her face was glazed with tears and her dark hair was sticking to her eyes and nose.

She had been dumped.

She felt pathetic for letting it get to her but she had been dating this bloke (who will remain unnamed) since after O.W.L.s last year and all of a sudden, nearly a year later, he just up and dumps her?

"Hey, Dor," someone said, climbing through the portrait hole. "You alright?"

She nodded, not speaking.

Gideon Prewett kneeled down beside her armchair. "You sure?"

She nodded again.

"Me and Fab got him for you," he added with a trace of a smile.

The past five years had been good to Gideon, his hair was shaggy and wild, reddish in the light but brown to the naked eye, he was tall and muscular, even at sixteen, and was mostly mature for his age, having attended to a toddler nephew and a raging pregnant sister.

Dorcas would acknowledge that Gideon and Fabian were very, very attractive boys. Men. Whatever.

"Here."

She looked up from her plush toy and wayward hair, Gideon was waving a large slab of Honeyduke's finest in front of her.

"Thank you, Gid, you're a hero."

"I try."

* * *

The Order of the Phoenix's first annual Christmas Party (admittedly it had been Dorcas, Marlene and Lily Potter's idea and had taken a lot of persuading on Dumbledore's part) was underway. Presents were overtaking on table, and a huge Christmas tree (courtesy of Hagrid) lit up the scene. People were coming in sporadically.

Dorcas was attending to food while Marlene was getting everyone inside safely.

Finally, everything was done. While the table was getting set, Dorcas noticed two missing heads.

"Where's Gideon and Fabian?" she leaned over and asked Marlene.

"They haven't shown yet. I'm sure they'll be here soon."

Dorcas frowned and sat down at the table, feeling uneasy. As the meal got started and her two best friends were still missing.

Finally, the door swung open and Dorcas raced into the hall to see the two identical figures coming in.

"Sorry we're late, we only just escaped," Fabian said, he was wearing a lumpy red sweater with a large yellow F worked into it. "Molly and the kids, you see."

She nodded, hugging Fabian and moving to hug Gideon. He had an identical jumper on, only his had a G on it instead. "You'd think we forgot our own names often," he said into her hair.

"Hey Gid," Fabian said as he walked towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, Fab?"

He grinned at his twin. "Mistletoe, bro."

They simultaneously looked, up and as it was, there was a sprig of mistletoe hanging over their heads. Dorcas flushed bright red and Gideon laughed a little in surprise.

But he kissed her anyway.

Dorcas thought that it might be the last kiss she'd ever need to die happy.

* * *

The sun was hitting her back as she sat crossed legged in front of two tombstones. A battered stuffed lion sat in her lap. It was a beautiful summer day.

Dorcas had run out of tears finally, so she sat, staring at the graves of her two best friends. "You two always had to act the hero…" she muttered weakly.

It had been nearly a month since they had died. She had only just been able to visit the graves, for the first time since the funeral.

"Why'd you have to do that?" she asked hopelessly. "I need you two. You two…were my life. My soul. And you had to go play the hero and get killed. But why?"

They weren't answering her question.

"I loved both of you. So much. Especially you," she said, her eyes turning towards the slab of grey marked with Gideon's full name.

She had always made fun of his middle name.

As a girl, she had dreamed of a hero coming to save her. Of course the biggest flaw with a hero is that they never know when to stop saving others and save themselves.

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reviews never go unappreciated 


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